"Sakuragi, I kept you here because of something."
"You... and Rukawa Kaede, do you want to become stronger?"
The afterglow of the setting sun was reflected on Coach Anxi's glasses, blocking his eyes. Hearing Coach Anxi's question, Rukawa Kaede and Sakuragi Hanamichi, who were left behind, were both stunned. After looking at each other, Sakuragi Hanamichi was the first to react. He pinched the thick flesh of Coach Anxi's chin with his hand and said with a smile:
"Dad, what nonsense are you talking about?"
"Of course I want to become stronger!"
"You kept this genius here because you want to give me some special treatment? Hahahaha!"
"Dad, you are quite insightful. You know how powerful this genius is. But why did you keep this stinky fox?"
"Tsk! Tsk!
”
At the end of his speech, Sakuragi Hanamichi waved at Rukawa Kaede, as if he was driving away a stray dog.
Rukawa Kaede rolled his eyes at Sakuragi Hanamichi and then looked at Coach Anzai. Although he didn't say anything, his eyes already told Coach Anzai his answer.
“Hohoho!”
"If you all want to become stronger, you will need to work harder than the other team members!"
"After training every day, we have to practice for another three hours. The training will be very tiring. Can you handle it?"
Coach Anxi pointed to the clock hanging on the wall and said with a smile.
The training intensity of Xiangbei High School is relatively strong among many Japanese high schools. They have one and a half hours of morning exercises, and after school at 3:30 in the afternoon, they will train until 6:30 in the evening. The total training time in the morning and afternoon is a full four and a half hours.
The ratio of training to reading can almost reach 1:1.
Of course, this is still a huge difference from Jinguji Budo in the United States. The basketball team of Oak Hill College basically does not have too many cultural courses. Most of the time, they are training in the gym, playing games with other schools, or on the way to participate in competitions.
Some people may ask why there is such a big difference between Chinese basketball and European and American basketball. Putting aside race, the training time of young players is the key factor that directly affects the player's level.
Elementary and middle school students in European and American countries use basketball as a stepping stone to enter college, and even to their lives. The base number of elementary and middle school student athletes across the country is quite terrifying, but looking at the domestic situation, there are very few middle and primary school athletes who can travel far.
Most of those who practice sports are those who cannot study well. Even if you have a talent for sports, if you are good at studying, the social environment will not support you to practice sports.
Many sports students often have to wait until the second or third year of junior high school before they can formally receive relatively professional campus sports training. The level of such campus training is often very poor. After all, a school's physical education teachers can often fall ill. How can we expect the school to hire high-level coaches? How is that possible
Most of the players in the national team are from the youth training. But then again, how many scouts are there for the youth training? The country is so big, how can so few scouts and coaches cover the whole country? At the same time, in order to increase the success rate of selection, setting a height threshold is a simple and effective way, isn't it
However, this method of selection will ultimately miss out on most of the talented players.
The way out for Chinese basketball is to popularize campus basketball, improve the level of campus basketball, and expand the base of grassroots athletes.
Yao Ming, who was criticized for not doing anything after taking office, is doing exactly this. However, this is not something that can be achieved in one or two years, or four or five years.
At the very least, it will take twenty years of hard work to see results. The rise of Japanese football has already proved the feasibility of this approach.
Coach Anzai kept Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa Kaede, not because he had any magic tricks that could make Sakuragi and Rukawa Kaede become super masters overnight.
He simply wanted Sakuragi and Rukawa to spend more time on basketball training. Players' strength cannot be improved overnight, and extensive training is absolutely necessary.
The reason why Jinguji Budou was able to rise in such a short period of time, in addition to the experience in his head, is that the amount of training he does every day is simply not comparable to that of ordinary players. It can be said that over the years, except for sleeping and attending classes, Budou has spent all his time in the gym or in Fujima's family gym.
Coach Anzai can foresee that Jinguji Budou will be even stronger after returning from the United States. Coach Anzai plans to train Sakuragi and Rukawa Kaede to become Jinguji Budou's new right-hand men and lead Xiangbei to the national championship.
"Dad, it's just three hours of extra practice. I'm a genius, how could I not be able to handle it?"
"Some people should not force themselves to do excessive training. It would be bad if they get injured."
Sakuragi Hanamichi expressed no pressure to coach Anzai's proposal for extra practice, and at the same time secretly stepped on Rukawa Kaede. Rukawa Kaede did not object to coach Anzai's proposal for extra practice, because he would practice basketball after returning, but he would practice alone in the yard.
It was actually better to practice in Xiangbei's gym now. Although he was Xiangbei's reserve, he still didn't have the feeling of being the master. After each training session, Rukawa Kaede didn't feel comfortable staying in the gym to practice.
"Hohoho, good!"
"It just so happens that the two of you can serve as each other's teaching assistants."
When Coach Anxi heard Sakuragi's answer and saw Rukawa's determined look, he knew that the two had agreed, and he spoke immediately. Then he glanced at the equipment on the court, patted Sakuragi and Rukawa's arms, and motioned for them to follow.
"On the first day of extra training, let's start with something simple."
"Let's start with the basics and do layup training." Coach Anxi murmured as he walked towards one of the half courts in the gym.
"Ah?! Dad, layup practice?"
"This... I already know how to do it! What's more, I can even dunk it!"
"Dad, can you teach me how to shoot? For so long, that gorilla guy has always been teaching me how to box out and grab rebounds."
"I want to attack! I want to score!"
When Sakuragi Hanamichi heard what Coach Anzai said, his face was full of displeasure.
Layups and the like are so unglamorous!
“Hohohoho!”
"Sakuragi, don't worry, shoot, I'll teach you."
“Eat your food one bite at a time, and walk your path one step at a time.”
"The layup drill I'm going to give you is different from what you normally practice."
"Wait for me here."
Coach Anxi said this and turned to go to the equipment room. When he came out after a while, he was holding a thin wooden stick about 50cm long in his hand and walked back to the court.
Both Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa Kaede looked at Coach Anzai in confusion, not knowing what Coach Anzai was going to do.
"Sakuragi, go get a ball and make a layup!"
Coach Anxi said as he walked to the basket with his stick in hand. Sakuragi was confused and walked to the sidelines to pick up a basketball, asking in confusion:
"Dad, what are we supposed to do? Just a layup?"
Coach Anzai didn't say anything, just waved at Sakuragi.
After receiving instructions from Coach Anzai, Sakuragi Hanamichi did not hesitate and ran towards the basket with the ball.
"Genius Sakuragi, layup!"
It was just a simple layup. Sakuragi Hanamichi was not running fast, and his body was relaxed. He quickly passed Coach Anzai and entered the basket. He jumped lightly and sent the ball out with his right hand. While making the layup, Sakuragi was still shouting and explaining to himself, creating a competitive atmosphere.
However, the next second after the basketball was released, a shadow of a stick flashed directly in front of Sakuragi's eyes, and with a snap, it accurately hit the basketball. Although the force seemed not strong, the layup path was completely destroyed, and the basketball slipped into the basket and fell.
“Ahhh!
”
"Dad, what are you doing?"
The basketball didn't go in, Sakuragi Hanamichi was stunned for a moment, then he grabbed his hair and yelled. Coach Anxi's stick brought him back to reality from his fantasy.
"Hoho...Defense!"
"Sakuragi-san, when you're making a layup, be sure to pay attention to your surroundings."
Coach Anxi said with a smile, then turned his gaze to Rukawa Kaede and continued, "Rukawa-san, would you like to try?"
Sakuragi's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard that. He walked to Coach Anxi with a smile, snatched the stick from Coach Anxi's hand, and said in a mean way, "Dad, you're old, go and have a rest."
"As for defense, leave this kind of thing to young people like me, hahahaha!"
When Coach Anxi heard this, he turned his head and looked at Sakuragi, then walked off the court with a smile. After Coach Anxi left the court, Sakuragi pointed his stick at Rukawa Kaede and shouted, "Stinky fox, come here!"
When Rukawa Kaede heard this, he curled his lips, walked to the sidelines, picked up a basketball, and looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi with a sharp look.
Anti-interference layup practice.
When he was at Takeishi Junior High School, Rukawa Kaede was exposed to that training method, which was promoted by Jinguji Budo when he was at Takeishi Junior High School.
During the training at Xiangbei during this period, Mitsui arranged the most training on physical fitness, positioning, dribbling and practice games. The team had never used such anti-interference layup exercises.
Maybe Mitsui felt that the players from Shohoku had too poor a foundation and it was not the right time.
At this time, Rukawa saw Sakuragi standing under the basket with a stick and became interested.
Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was standing under the basket, was also very excited. He had never blocked Rukawa during normal practice games, but today was different. With the help of this stick, he was equivalent to growing 50cm taller.
He just didn't believe that he couldn't stop the other party like this!
While Sakuragi was thinking, Rukawa had already dribbled the ball forward at a very fast speed. In the blink of an eye, he had crossed the three-point line and rushed towards the basket.
Sakuragi Hanamichi was grinning, looking excitedly at the ball in Rukawa's hand, ready to block it at any time.
Soon, Rukawa Kaede got close to Sakuragi, entered the basket and stood up depressedly. His body actually bumped into Sakuragi Hanamichi, pressing Sakuragi so that he couldn't jump up. Then he stretched out his hand and shot the basketball.
Sakuragi Hanamichi obviously did not expect that Rukawa would actively seek physical confrontation, and had no way of using his full jumping ability. He could only hold up the wooden stick and try to knock the ball down. However, Rukawa's shooting point was very high, and the parabola of the basketball was also very high, so it easily passed over the wooden stick and hit the backboard into the net.
"What?!" Sakuragi was visibly stunned when he heard the sound of the basketball going into the net, and then he angrily shouted at Rukawa:
"Stinky fox, you broke the rules!"
"Dribbling! Dad, Rukawa Kaede committed a foul!"
Sakuragi tried to seek the advice of Coach Anzai on the sidelines, but before Coach Anzai could speak, Rukawa replied calmly, "You just moved your feet and didn't stand still. This is a reasonable collision."
"Damn it, this is a foul! I don't care, it's a foul!"
"You despicable villain! You stinky fox!"
Facing Sakuragi's nagging, Rukawa spread his hands, ignored Sakuragi, and sighed softly: "Big idiot..."
As for Sakuragi, after muttering for a few minutes, he gradually stopped scolding when he saw that Coach Anzai didn't say anything. Then he rolled his eyes, threw the stick at Rukawa, and shouted:
"Switch me! Switch me! I'll do the layup, you guard me!"
Rukawa Kaede subconsciously caught the wooden stick. When he heard what Sakuragi Hanamichi said, he did not object and walked to the basket silently.
There is a difference between the anti-interference layup practice and the one-on-one single defense. The defender can only stand under the basket and cannot defend. In other words, Sakuragi Hanamichi can maximize his bounce when making a layup, and at the same time, he has the powerful potential energy brought by the sprint.
The stick is very thin, so as long as Sakuragi can dodge it a little in the air and improve his shooting point, he can successfully make a layup. The essence of this training is actually to cultivate the aerial vision of the offensive players and the ability to stay in the air and evade defense, which greatly simulates the actual layup with defensive players.
Rukawa Kaede holding a stick is equivalent to a center with a height of about 220cm and a poor jumping and arm span.
If Yao Ming helps him train, he only needs to stand under the basket and raise his hands. This is a huge challenge for Sakuragi. Even for many NBA point guards, it is a big challenge. There are countless NBA players who have been blocked by Yao Ming.
On the court, Sakuragi Hanamichi was already charging towards the basket with the ball. This time, his speed had increased. Soon, Sakuragi Hanamichi was rushing towards the basket with powerful kinetic energy. Sakuragi also learned from Rukawa Kaede and planned to actively seek some physical confrontation.
In response, Rukawa did not dodge or evade, but deliberately accumulated strength. The moment Sakuragi approached, Rukawa jumped up a moment earlier than Sakuragi, and the next moment after he jumped up, Sakuragi Hanamichi also jumped up. The two bodies collided in the air. Sakuragi didn't think twice and directly shot the ball.
But in the next second after the basketball was shot, the shadow of the stick flashed and hit the basketball directly.
"Ahh!" Sakuragi Hanamichi yelled after failing the layup. He quickly ran to the basket, picked up the basketball and walked toward the three-point line, shouting:
"Come again!"
I'm addicted.
What Rukawa can do, Sakuragi cannot do, and this is something that Sakuragi Hanamichi absolutely cannot tolerate. And the key point is that such a layup is not difficult at all in Sakuragi Hanamichi's eyes.
How could he, a genius, not be able to do such a simple thing
Coach Anxi, who was off the court, pushed his glasses when he saw this scene, and the corners of his mouth curled up in satisfaction, and he was very satisfied with Sakuragi's fighting spirit. However, Coach Anxi did not want to watch the show, and after seeing Sakuragi's question, he directly pointed out:
"Sakuragi, you have good jumping ability, don't rush to shoot, pay attention to the position of the stick when you layup."
"You can shoot higher. If you want to successfully layup in front of Rukawa Kaede, you must do this."
"Find a way to stay in the air longer, find a way to see more clearly in the air!"
Coach Anzai has high expectations for Hanamichi Sakuragi. He doesn't expect Hanamichi to become an all-around scorer like Jinguji Budou, but he also wants Sakuragi to reach the level that Tanizawa once reached. After learning about Jinguji Budou's experience in the United States, Coach Anzai made a series of training plans for Sakuragi and Rukawa.
This anti-interference layup training is just the beginning!
Before the next IH, he wants to train Sakuragi Hanamichi into a qualified power forward who can assist Akagi in defense in the interior and at the same time provide offensive pressure in the interior.
Train Rukawa Kaede into a strong ball-handler who can share the offensive pressure of Jinguji Budou, a stronger ball-handler than Mitsui Hisashi!
Next year, Mitsui Hisashi, Akagi and others will be in their third year, and Shohoku will need a new carriage to pull it towards the national championship.
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